The legendary Sreedevi was a blend of sheer talent and beauty. Very few actors before or after her could ace the glamour game and act with equal aplomb. Her untimely death was a shocker for fans, leaving behind a smorgasbord of her celluloid reels in their minds. Today is her 60th birth anniversary.
Not even the entire Khan filmography could match the number of films Sreedevi did in various languages. In 2017, she did ‘Mom’ and that was her 300th film, while all the Khans together have only done 275 films. Sri was not just a glam queen; she also wowed us with quite a few challenging roles as well.
In Bollywood, she played double roles in 7 films and that might be a record of sorts—'Naka-Bandhi', 'Guru', 'Chaalbaaz', 'Lamhe', 'Khuda Gawah', 'Gurudev' and 'Banjaran'. The fiery Manju and the docile Anju in ‘Chaalbaaz’ was counted as one of the best 25 double acts in Bollywood.
'Lamhe' is rated as one of Yash Chopra’s best. And Sri immortalized the mother-daughter pair of Pallavi and Pooja on screen. It won 5 Filmfare awards that year including Best Actress, Best Film, and Best Costume. In 'Khuda Gawah', she was mesmerizing as the elegant Afghani fighter Benazir and her daughter Mehendi. The scene where Amitabh Bachchan’s Badshah Khan first sees Benazir on horseback is Sridevi in her magnificent best. One of those few female actors who could overshadow Bachchan in a film. The film won the Filmfare award for Best Director as well a Best Actress nomination for Sridevi.
The 1993 film 'Gurudev' was another notable film. In Vinod Mehra’s last directorial, she played Sunitha and Priya in a film that headlined Rishi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor. Even in IV Sasi’s ‘Angeekaram’, Sri played a double role (Sathi and Viji). In ‘Guru’, which was the Hindi remake of Kamal Haasan’s ‘Khaki Sattai’, she played Uma and Rama.
Sridevi’s first Malayalam film was 'Kumara Sambhavam' (1969) in which she played Lord Muruga. Apart she has also played Lord Muruga in ‘Thunaivan’ (1969), and ‘Aathi Parasakthi (1971). When Steven Spielberg offered her ‘Jurassic Park’ in 1993, Sridevi declined it. Sri was of the opinion that she needn’t do insignificant roles in Hollywood when she was ruling Bollywood.
